This Day in History on December 13 - History and Headlines

December 13, 1971: What Exactly is Roe v. Wade?

By Major Dan on December 13, 2018 Crime, December 13, Politics, Religion

A Brief History On December 13, 1971, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) heard arguments in a lawsuit by Norma McCorvey (known as “Jane Roe” for the purposes of the lawsuit) against the Dallas County (Texas) Attorney, Henry Wade in the landmark American court case about the subject of a woman’s right to seek an abortion, ending an unwanted pregnancy. The case is formally knowns as Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973) and ever since the decision was handed down in January of 1973 the case has been a topic of heated debate between “Pro-Life” (aka, anti-abortion)…

December 13, 2017: What is Hanukkah?

By Major Dan on December 13, 2017 December 13, Religion, The Paranormal

A Brief History On December 13, 2017, our Jewish friends celebrate the Festival of Lights and the Feast of Dedication, known better as Hanukkah. Right off the bat, the confusion starts with the spelling of “Hanukkah!” You may find this word spelled several different ways, so just pick the one you like. No matter how you spell it, Hanukkah adds up to 8 Crazy Nights! Digging Deeper Celebrated to commemorate the founding of the Second Temple, Hanukkah rites center around an 8 candle candelabrum called a menorah, with a ninth candle holder holding a candle called a Shamash, usually in…

December 13, 1945: The Hyena of Auschwitz (aka The Beautiful Beast) is Executed

By Major Dan on December 13, 2016 Crime, December 13

A Brief History On December 13, 1945, Irma Ida Ilse Grese, age 22, was executed in accordance with her sentence of death for the crime of committing War Crimes (Crimes Against Humanity) for her service as a concentration camp guard at Ravensbruck and Auschwitz Nazi death camps during World War II. Digging Deeper The apparently attractive young lady thus became the youngest female executed by British authorities during the 20th Century. Irma was born in 1923 to a dairy working family in Germany, but her mother committed suicide by drinking acid in 1936, after finding out her husband was having…

History: December 13, 1294: 10 Frauds Purporting to be Holy or Supernatural

By Abdul Alhazred on December 13, 2015 Crime, December 13, Religion, The Paranormal

A Brief History On December 13, 1294, Pope Celestine V, also known as Saint Celestine, resigned from the office of Pope of the Roman Catholic Church after only 5 months as pope. An ineffective and incompetent pope, Celestine pulled stunts such as appointing several people to the same high position and acting as a puppet for King Charles II of Naples. The successor to Celestine as Pope, Boniface VIII, imprisoned Celestine and overturned the various decrees Celestine managed to publish. One of these decrees was the right of a Pope to abdicate, the right under which Celestine quit. Obviously, both…

Some Little-Known Facts about 5 Famous Voyages

By Major Dan on December 13, 2014 December 13, Lists, Nature

A Brief History On December 13, 1577, Francis Drake set out from Plymouth, England on his ship, the Golden Hind, on a voyage that would take the ship and crew around the world, the first circumnavigation of the globe by an English vessel. This voyage, of course, has gone down in history as a famous one, as have the rest of the voyages listed here. We, however, will provide you with some little-known facts about each of these voyages that your teacher probably never told you. Digging Deeper 5. HMS Beagle, 1831. The HMS Beagle was made famous by Charles…